Well unfortunately I didn't make it through Customs and had to return...
what's that? If my trip got cancelled I'd have e-mailed you a lot earlier today?
Okay, point taken. I'm in Seattle right now.
I bought a few extra memory cards yesterday but couldn't find them in time
for the trip. Hopefully in one of my boxes.
Upon heading out I realized that during my last plane trip one set of clasps
on my backpack had been tied together so that made for an interesting challenge
once I got to the ferry terminal. The ferry ride was uneventful. However, on
the bus to Sequim three kids tried to get off at one point. The doors bounced
back on the third kid and then the bus started to take off. Fortunately the kid
managed to convey the situation to the driver in time. I took a quick look around downtown Port Townsend and made it back to the
Park & Ride there in good time. Not much more to tell about trip en route
beyond there were a few times during bus rides that I was a bit squeezed.
[NOW: To clarify, my route to Seattle, as with previous trips I took the
Coho ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, Clallum Transit’s 30 Commuter bus from
Port Angeles to Sequim, Jefferson Transits 8 bus from Sequim to Port Townsend
and their 7 bus from Sequim to Poulsbo, Kitsap Transit’s 90 bus from Poulsbo to
Bainbridge, and a ferry from Bainbridge to Seattle, where I checked in again at
the Green Tortoise Hostel]
I accidently left a bag of cash at the hostel front desk. Luckily I
retrieved it pretty fast. My goal is to try something different everyday I'm in Seattle so I
immediately did my day 1 tasks, which was to visit the Columbia Center's 73rd
story observatory. It wasn't anywhere near as scary as I thought because unlike
Smith Tower it wasn't open air, and because that high up it looks like a view
from a plane. Of course if you routinely toss your cookies on a plane that
might not help much.
[NOW: The above observatory is now called Sky View Observatory.]
I then headed to Seattle Center, or rather first the 7-11 in front of it. In
front of the 7-11 there was a, er, rubber-y item. No I didn't check to see if
it had gotten any use. At the 7-11 itself the clerk was a bit rude, moving on to
another customer while I counted out change and insisting I push the change
over to his side of the counter.
The International Fountain wasn't working today but it also wasn't working
the first day last year, so will keep checking. I went to the KCTS 9 store and
got a JP Patches DVD that's only available there. I wasn't going to ride the
Ride the Ducks this year because it's $25 and I did it last year, but basically
I felt like it. I bought a ticket, dashed over to Silver Platters and bought a
grindhouse movies DVD set, then got in line at the Ducks. The people on the
Duck were more energetic than last year and unlike last year it bypassed the
stadiums. For those who don't know the Ducks are amphibious so it plunged into
Lake Union for the second half of the tour.
[NOW: The Fountain did indeed work in later visits. The KCTS 9 Store and Ride the Ducks are now closed and Silver Platters has moved to 1st Ave S]
I walked back downtown, only seeing one Monorail going the same way. Will I
ride the Monorail? Absolutely, just as soon as I come up with any reason to do
so. And maybe a few years down the road I'll come up with something.
[NOW: Still haven’t ridden it, though with its new fare system I likely will on my next trip.]
Lots of construction this year. Reminded me of Bellevue last year. Luckily
it was the only thing that reminded me of Bellevue or I'd be on my way back.
Actually I fit back into my Seattle headspace pretty quickly this year, even
faster than last year. I think I'm starting to think of it as a summer home of
sorts.
I did some more walking at night and determined that my camera works good at
night as long as the flash is on. If the flash is on it gives the illusion of
daytime. Of course daytime also gives a pretty good impression of daytime so
will probably save the batteries unless there's something special to take a pic
of.
The hostel room is definitely cooler (temperature wise) than last year, and
same sex. So people who are only interested in the "good parts" like
last year might want to opt out of these. This computer terminal uses an
Internet program called Safari which I hadn't heard of. Luckily the logo looks
a lot like Netscape so I correctly guessed it was the Internet browser. On
Safari I can only read messages by hitting Reply. Will at least that pretty
much guarantees a prompt response.
Used a lot of batteries today and am on my third memory card, so will need to
find a cheap source of cards (Rite Aid wants $60).
Oh yes, no fatalities today! And for those keeping tabs on my McDonald's
eating, breakfast and dinner there, lunch on ferry.
No comments:
Post a Comment